Demobbed after the thrilling exploits of war, former US marine Scotty Bowers found himself in a dreary job at a petrol station.

But a chance meeting with actor Walter Pidgeon, who proposition the handsome hunk at the pumps, launched the 23-year-old into a sordid world of lust and debauchery involving Hollywood’s biggest names and most glamorous figures.

In an astonishing twist of fate, he became the Mr Fixit for screen icons who sought out the more lurid trappings of Tinseltown during its glory days.

Wild affairs, gay romps and rampant prostitution were the order of the day and Bowers was the man they turned to for their salacious ­entertainment, he claims in a book.

He set up hundreds of sexual encounters for legends including Katharine Hepburn, Rita Hayworth and Vivien Leigh while himself jumping into bed with leading men and women.

Now, Bowers has lifted the lid on his days as a go-between for a host of actors in the 40s and 50s.

The 88-year-old tells of a prostitute ring which catered for gay and bisexual stars such as Cary Grant, George Cukor and Rock Hudson.

And he even claims he had a threesome with the Duke of Windsor and his wife Wallis Simpson.

Bowers claims he set up Hepburn – long believed to have been bisexual – with “more than 150 different women”.

He insists he kept quiet until now out of respect for the privacy of the stars he bedded or fixed up romps for.

He says: “I didn’t want to hurt any of these people. “I don’t need the money. And I never saw the fascination. So they liked sex how they liked it. Who cares?

“I finally said yes because all of my famous tricks are dead by now. The truth can’t hurt them any more.”

Bowers tells in his book Full Service: My Adventures In Hollywood And The Secret Sex Lives Of The Stars how he accidentally fell into his role as a steamy Mr Fixit.

He was at a petrol station on Hollywood Boulevard, near Paramount Pictures, in 1946 after leaving the marines when Pidgeon pulled up and propositioned him with a 20 dollar bill.

(Image: Mirrorpix)

He accepted and before long was “arranging similar stuff” for the star’s more adventurous friends.

Apart from romping with them himself – his striking good looks attracted Hollywood’s biggest icons – he would also set them up with his marine pals.

Bowers ran the flourishing business from a back room at the garage because it was “safer” than in gay bars.

He added: “Sometimes police would come around. But I never got caught partly because I kept everything in my head. There was no little black book.”

Grant was perhaps Bowers’ most famous client. The Bristol-born actor was married five times but rumours circulated for years that he was bisexual.

Fashion journalist Richard Blackwell said Grant and Bowers were “deeply, madly in love”, and alleged accounts of their physical affection have been published.

Alexander D’Arcy, who starred with Grant in The Awful Truth, said the actor and Scott “lived together as a gay couple”.

(Image: Mirrorpix)

Bowers quit his job in 1950 and claims he supported himself for the next 20 years through prostitution, bar work and as a handyman. In addition to his gay clients, he also says he gained a following among straight actors such Desi Arnaz.

Best known for his role as Ricky Ricardo on the hit American TV series I Love Lucy, he used Bowers as a matchmaking service.

But the fixer claims in his book, due out on February 14, he never accepted payment for fixing encounters. He insists: “I wasn’t a pimp.”

(Image: BBC)

(Image: PA)

(Image: Stephanie Diani)

Bowers, who says he prefers the sexual company of women, continued with his lurid life until the Aids epidemic in the 80s.

He wrote: “The disease brought an end to the sexual freedoms that had defined life in Tinseltown. My days of arranging tricks for others were over. It was too unsafe.”

Rumours of a ­prostitution ring run by a mystery man called “Scotty” have floated around ­Hollywood for years. And since revealing himself as that man, Bowers says he has been inundated with book and film offers.

He says Tennessee Williams had even approached him in the 60s and written an “exposé”. But Bowers hated it, and Williams scrapped it.

He said: “He made me sound like a mad queen flying over Hollywood Boulevard on a broomstick directing all the queens in town. It was way over the top.”